Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The TSA has no head -- Sen. DeMint is holding it up because, it seems, the potential head is not quite anti-union enough. In other words, our safety will depend on screening by underpaid folks with no fringe benefits, and no health insurance. that's who I want covering MY ASS -- don't you?

Monday, December 28, 2009

We had a very nice peaceful holiday -- in fact we went out and had "Chinese Food for Christmas" (follow link above), even though we are not Jewish.

Food was very good, busy restaurant, all sorts of family groups. When there are just two people it makes a hell of a lot more sense than cooking a huge dinner -- then being too tired and involved with the food to actually enjoy it.

Saturday we actually went shopping -- picked up on some of the holiday sales. Bought some really cheap slippers (first time I've ever had camo slippers -- I guess they make my feet invisible to the cats), a couple of tops, and some 9mm ammo. Not exactly a high end sort of place -- Academy Sports. Have enough fishing tackle, so we didn't get any of that stuff.

I guess my current wardrobe is pretty basic -- jeans, top, some sort of outerwear (if necessary). Oops, can't forget the cap -- just about destroyed the pink Texas Rangers cap, replaced it with a pink N.Y. Yankees cap.

Wear that outfit about 90% of the time -- then I'll wonder why folks tend to remember the two old ladies who seem to be a couple -- one of whom wears a baseball cap most of the time.

Oh well, it's good to be remembered (I think).

Hoping for a quiet and sensible New Year -- no excitement, no new diseases, no major surprises.

How many think that's possible in these "interesting times"?

Just looking over the newspapers leaves me with a sense of foreboding about our economic future.

I sure hope I'm wrong

I hope all y'all have had, and continue to have, a peaceful, hopeful, holiday season.

Football -- the real thing, not American Football which does not use the foot at all (well, hardly at all).

Anyway, the despised Fox group of channels shows quite a lot of the various European Leagues. Though I'm not an expert (even though I played the game at a fair level back when I was young) I have become a fan of the Premier League in England. Arsenal, Man.U., Liverpool, Chelsea, etc. Every so often you get to see a level of skill, verve, intense play, that just is to marvel at. Amazing passes, both short and long, marvelous strikes -- it really is "the beautiful game".

For many years I was a fan of American Football -- it is just too damn violent these days. In addition, it seems to leave its players broken in mind and body -- so many old heroes who can barely walk. Others who have grave mental issues.

The "game" is no longer even a bit of a game -- nor is it really a business ----- unless you see using up your talent as fast as you can as a valid "business model".

It's time for American Football to lose what lustre it has.

I'd like to see "the beautiful game" take over -- but it seems to have its own problems: MATCH FIXING!!

As the president's job performance numbers and ratings on his handling of virtually every domestic issue have fallen below 50 percent, the Democratic base has become demoralized, and Independents have gone from his source of strength to his Achilles Heel, it's time to reflect on why. The conventional wisdom from the White House is those "pesky leftists" -- those bloggers and Vermont Governors and Senators who keep wanting real health reform, real financial reform, immigration reform not preceded by a year or two of raids that leave children without parents, and all the other changes we were supposed to believe in.

Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process. It isn't hard for them to see that the winners seem to be the same no matter who the voters select (Wall Street, big oil, big Pharma, the insurance industry). In fact, the president's leadership style, combined with the Democratic Congress's penchant for making its sausage in public and producing new and usually more tasteless recipes every day, has had a very high toll far from the left: smack in the center of the political spectrum.

What's costing the president and courting danger for Democrats in 2010 isn't a question of left or right, because the president has accomplished the remarkable feat of both demoralizing the base and completely turning off voters in the center. If this were an ideological issue, that would not be the case. He would be holding either the middle or the left, not losing both.

What's costing the president are three things: a laissez faire style of leadership that appears weak and removed to everyday Americans, a failure to articulate and defend any coherent ideological position on virtually anything, and a widespread perception that he cares more about special interests like bank, credit card, oil and coal, and health and pharmaceutical companies than he does about the people they are shafting.

The problem is not that his record is being distorted. It's that all three have more than a grain of truth. And I say this not as one of those pesky "leftists." I say this as someone who has spent much of the last three years studying what moves voters in the middle, the Undecideds who will hear whichever side speaks to them with moral clarity.

Leadership, Obama Style

Consider the president's leadership style, which has now become clear: deliver a moving speech, move on, and when push comes to shove, leave it to others to decide what to do if there's a conflict, because if there's a conflict, he doesn't want to be anywhere near it.

Health care is a paradigm case. When the president went to speak to the Democrats last week on Capitol Hill, he exhorted them to pass the bill. According to reports, though, he didn't mention the two issues in the way of doing that, the efforts of Senators like Ben Nelson to use this as an opportunity to turn back the clock on abortion by 25 years, and the efforts of conservative and industry-owned Democrats to eliminate any competition for the insurance companies that pay their campaign bills. He simply ignored both controversies and exhorted.

Leadership means heading into the eye of the storm and bringing the vessel of state home safely, not going as far inland as you can because it's uncomfortable on the high seas. This president has a particular aversion to battling back gusting winds from his starboard side (the right, for the nautically challenged) and tends to give in to them. He just can't tolerate conflict, and the result is that he refuses to lead.

We have seen the same pattern of pretty speeches followed by empty exhortations on issue after issue. The president has, on more than one occasion, gone to Wall Street or called in its titans (who have often just ignored him and failed to show up) to exhort them to be nice to the people they're foreclosing at record rates, yet he has done virtually nothing for those people. His key program for preventing foreclosures is helping 4 percent of those "lucky" enough to get into it, not the 75 percent he promised, and many of the others are having their homes auctioned out from right under them because of some provisions in the fine print. One in four homeowners is under water and one in six is in danger of foreclosure. Why we're giving money to banks instead of two-year loans -- using the model of student loans -- to homeowners to pay their mortgages (on which they don't have to pay interest or principal for two years, while requiring their banks to renegotiate their interest rates in return for saving the banks from "toxic assets") is something the average person doesn't understand. And frankly, I don't understand it, either. I thought I voted Democratic in the last election.

Same with the credit card companies. Great speech about the fine print. Then the rates tripled.

The president has exhorted the banks, who are getting zero-interest money, to give more of it to small businesses. But they have no incentives to do that. There are too many high-yield, reasonably low risk investments to make with zero-interest federal loans. I wouldn't mind a few billion to play around with right now myself, and I can't say I'd start with some guy who wants to start his own heating and air company, or an existing small business owner who is hanging on by his fingernails in tough economic times. I'd put my money in something like emerging markets, or maybe Canada. (Have you noticed how well Canadian equities are doing lately?) Or perhaps Chinese wind turbines. (Oh, we're investing there already with stimulus funds.)

The time for exhortation is over. FDR didn't exhort robber barons to stem the redistribution of wealth from working Americans to the upper 1 percent, and neither did his fifth cousin Teddy. Both men told the most powerful men in the United States that they weren't going to rip off the American people any more, and they backed up their words with actions. Teddy Roosevelt was clear that capital gains taxes should be high relative to income taxes because we should reward work, not "gambling in stocks." This President just doesn't have the stomach to make anyone do anything they don't want to do (except women to have unwanted babies because they can't afford an abortion or live in a red state and don't have an employer who offers insurance), and his advisors are enabling his most troubling character flaw, his conflict-avoidance.

Like most Americans I talk to, when I see the president on television, I now change the channel the same way I did with Bush. With Bush, I couldn't stand his speeches because I knew he meant what he said. I knew he was going to follow through with one ignorant, dangerous, or misguided policy after another. With Obama, I can't stand them because I realize he doesn't mean what he says -- or if he does, he just doesn't have the fire in his belly to follow through. He can't seem to muster the passion to fight for any of what he believes in, whatever that is. He'd make a great queen -- his ceremonial addresses are magnificent -- but he prefers to fly Air Force One at 60,000 feet and "stay above the fray."

It's the job of the president to be in the fray. It's his job to lead us out of it, not to run from it. It's his job to make the tough decisions and draw lines in the sand. But Obama really doesn't seem to want to get involved in the contentious decisions. They're so, you know, contentious. He wants us all to get along. Better to leave the fights to the Democrats in Congress since they're so good at them. He's like an amateur boxer who got a coupon for a half day of training with Angelo Dundee after being inspired by the tapes of Mohammed Ali. He got "float like a butterfly" in the morning but never made it to "sting like a bee."

Do you think Americans ought to have one choice of health insurance plans the insurance companies don't control, or don't you? I don't want to hear that it would sort of, kind of, maybe be your preference, all other things being equal. Do you think we ought to use health care as a Trojan Horse for right-wing abortion policies? Say something, for God's sake.

He doesn't need a chief of staff. He needs someone to shake him until he feels something strongly enough not just to talk about it but to act. He's increasingly appearing to the public, and particularly to swing voters, like Dukakis without the administrative skill. And although he is likely to squeak by with a personal victory in 2012 if the economy improves by then, he may well do so with a Republican Congress. But then I suppose he'll get the bipartisanship he always wanted.

No Vision, No Message

The second problem relates to the first. The president just doesn't want to enunciate a progressive vision of where this country should be heading in the 21st century, particularly a progressive vision of government and its relation to business. He doesn't want to ruffle what he believes to be the feathers of the American people, to offer them a coherent, emotionally resonant, values-driven message -- starting with an alternative to Ronald Reagan's message that government is the problem and not the solution -- and to see if they might actually follow him.

He doesn't want to talk about social issues, even though they predictably have gotten in the way of health care reform and will do the same on one issue after another. Abortion? You don't advance a progressive position by giving a center-right speech at Notre Dame that emphasizes cutting back on the number of abortions without mentioning that sex education and birth control might be useful means to that end, mumbling something about a conscience clause that suggests that pharmacists don't have to fill birth control prescriptions if it offends their sensibilities, and allowing states to use health care reform to set back the rights of women and couples to decide when to start their families based on somebody else's faith. If you believe that freedom includes the freedom to decide when you will or won't have a child, say it, say it with moral conviction, and follow it up with action. Perhaps something as simple as this: "I won't sign a health bill into law that forces women and couples to have a child they did not intend and are not ready to parent because of the dictates of someone else's faith or conscience." You know what? A message of that sort wins by 25 points nationally, and you can speak it in Southern and win with evangelical Christians in the deep south if you speak to them honestly in the language of faith. That shouldn't be hard for a president who is a religious Christian.

Gays? Virtually all Americans are for repealing don't ask/don't tell (except for conservatives who haven't yet come to terms with their own homosexuality -- but don't tell them that, or at least don't ask). This one's a no-brainer. Tell Congress you want a bill on your desk by January 1, and announce that you have serious questions about the constitutionality of the current policy and won't enforce it until your Justice Department has had time to study it. Don't keep firing gay Arabic interpreters. But that would require not just giving the pretty speech on how we're all equal in the eyes of God and we should all be equal in the eyes of the law (a phrase he might want to try sometime). It would require actually doing something that might anger a small percentage of the population on the right, and that's just too hard for this president to do. It's one thing to acknowledge and respect the positions of people who hold different points of view. It's another to capitulate to them.

Immigration? Joe Wilson yells, "You lie." So instead of acting like a man and going after Wilson on the spot (the man just attacked him in front of the entire nation in a joint session of Congress), he accepts his apology the next day, and a day later rewards Wilson for his incivility and bigotry by tightening the rules so that illegal immigrants can't even buy insurance themselves on the health care exchange the Democrats are creating sometime between 2013 and 2025 (depending on how many seats they lose in the meantime, and hence how long, if ever, it takes for the exchange to get set up).

Good policy? No. Not only is it inhumane -- can you imagine being really sick or in terrible pain but being too afraid even to go to a clinic because you might be deported? -- but it's a public health hazard for sick people not to get care and spread their illnesses, a drain on American taxpayers as illegal immigrants who finally have no choice but to find their way, when they're incredibly ill, to emergency rooms or public clinics, and a despicable policy toward their children, many of whom are American citizens, but who in either case shouldn't have to be sick, in pain, and without preventive care as their bodies and minds are developing, no matter where their parents come from.

Is it good politics? No. During the election I tested messages on just this issue, and a strong progressive message beat the most convincing anti-immigrant message we could throw at it by 10 points. Two weeks ago, I tested messages on just this issue as it applied to health care, and that margin had doubled.

If you just talk sensibly with Americans, they are sensible people. But ask them one-dimensional polling questions like, "Do you think illegal immigrants should get health care?" and you'll entirely miss the art of the possible.

Jobs? Watch for a $25 billion plan that makes good political theatre and that every economist I know says will move the unemployment rate from 10.0 percent to 9.95 percent. Not enough to save 30 seats in November. And not enough to save a generation of families from financial ruin and lower education, higher unemployment, and poorer health for the rest of their -- and their children's -- lives.

The problem with the president's strategic team is that they don't understand the difference between compromising on policy and compromising on core values. When it comes to policies, listen all you want to the Stones: "You can't always get what you want" (although it would be nice if the administration tried sometime). But on issues of principle -- like allowing regressive abortion amendments to be tacked onto a health care reform bill -- get some stones. Make your case to the American people, make it evocatively, and draw the line in the sand. That's how you earn people's respect. That's the only thing that will bring Independents back.

And that's where the problem of message comes in. This White House has no coherent message on anything. The message on health care reform changed even more frequently than the interest rates on credit cards last Spring, and turned a 70-30 winning issue into its current 30-50 status with the public. Last week on the Sunday news shows, I remember watching in disbelief as Larry Summers smugly told the 15 million Americans out of work that the recession was definitively over and that all economists agree. Then Christina Romer, another of the President's chief economic advisors, announced on the next show that the recession is definitely not over.

That's simply inexcusable. The least two members of the economic team can do before they fan out on the Sunday morning shows is to agree on whether we're in a recession, how it relates to joblessness, and how to talk about it sensitively without seeming out of touch. That's the job of the White House messaging team, which has been AWOL since at least the start of the health care battle last Spring.

It's the same problem we've seen with messaging the deficit. Are deficits good -- we're supposed to deficit spend our way out of a severe recession, right? -- or bad -- they're a drag on the economy and stealing from the next generation. So which are they? How about telling the American people, at the very least, when they're good and when they're bad, not flipping back and forth in the same sentence between deficit spending and deficit reduction.

To be honest, I don't know what the president believes on anything, and I'm not alone among American voters. He introduced his recent job summit by saying that even in these times, the role of government should be limited. Really? That was a nicely nuanced reinforcement of the ideology of limited, ineffective government promulgated by Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Unfortunately, it runs against all the available data and everything Democrats have stood for since FDR.

Abortion? Who knows. Gays? I suspect intellectually he believes in equal rights but deep down he thinks they're icky. Something is sure holding him back from doing the obvious. Immigrants? He probably has an opinion, but he's not going to waste political capital on them; he sold them out in 15 seconds on health care. Foreclosures? Nice speeches, and I'm sure it really concerns him when he hears the stories of families firsthand. But not enough to divert the cash from the lenders to the borrowers. And the problem is, the average American knows it. Job creation? Would be nice, and I presume he believes that people who want to work ought to be able to work. But when 700,000 people were losing their jobs a month in his first few months of office and over millions have lost their jobs on his watch (a process, of course, initiated by his predecessor, whose name, to my knowledge, he has not uttered since entering office), three letters should have come to mind: W - P - A. President Roosevelt had no legs to stand on, but he sure had spine.

The Politics of the Lowest Common Denominator

And capping off all of these aspects of the president's leadership style is his preference for the lowest common denominator. That means you don't really have to fight, you don't have to take anybody on, you don't take any risks. You just find what the public is so upset about that even the Republicans would stipulate to it if forced to (e.g., that excluding people from health care because they have "pre-existing conditions" is something we can't continue to tolerate) and build it into whatever plan the special interests can hammer out around it.

Unfortunately, what Democrats just can't seem to understand is that the politics of the lowest common denominator is always a losing politics. It sends a meta-message that you're weak -- nothing more, nothing less -- and that's the cross the Democrats have had to bear since they "lost China" 60 years ago. And in fact, it is weak.

Want health care reform? Let Congress work it out, and whatever comes out, call it a victory. It's telling that when the Senate triumphantly announced that it had the 60 votes for cloture on Friday, insurance stocks hit a 52-year peak.

Energy? Okay, if you don't really want to mess with the oil and coal industries, let the caps slip higher and higher and industry will cut pollution around the edges. It won't really solve the problem, but it's the golden mean between the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do, which is the essence of Obampromise. It also hamstrings you in Copenhagen, but oh well, they could use a little global warming there this time of year anyway. Have you noticed it's cold as hell over there?

Financial regulation? The president's all for the good stuff: regulating derivatives and other fancy financial products no one but the people making bundles off of them who crashed the economy (and now run it) understand. Tell bankers the days of wine and roses are over. But if we have to have half-reform so Goldman Sachs is willing to keep sending its best and brightest through the revolving door at Treasury, that's okay; the Dow is up. So jobs are bleak and the average American is enraged that Wall Street had a bumper year -- with record bonuses -- as they're losing their homes. But you know the old adage about a half a loaf.

That's in fact what the health care debate is over. We shouldn't have had to settle for half a loaf. If the president had simply placed appropriate blame on the health insurance industry for its pre-existing conditions, it's cutting off care for breast cancer victims in the middle of treatment, and its doubling our premiums and co-pays during the Bush years, he would have harnessed populist anger and pushed this bill through six months ago, and it would have looked like the change we were told to believe in. But if you cut backroom deals with every special interest who is part of the problem and offer the American people no coherent message while the other side is messaging straight out of the messaging memo written by Frank Luntz ("government takeover," "a bureaucrat between you and your doctor"), you can expect half a loaf. And the other half will be paid for by middle class taxpayers, as in the Senate bill, which includes provisions like taxing good middle class tax plans like PPOs, which will disappear as soon as insurance companies and big businesses have the excuse of the missing tax break. Remind me, when we've just had the largest transfer of wealth to the upper 1 percent of the country from working and middle class Americans in a century, why it would be such a terrible thing instead, as in the House bill, to ask people who make over a million dollars a year to pony up for the health care of their (and their friends') housekeepers, instead of taking away health care plans union workers traded for salary increases?

The president's biggest success has been on the international stage: He's not George W. Bush, and he's eloquent to boot. He's done a great deal with that eloquence to speak to Muslims around the world and to make clear to others in the international community that America is back -- mostly. But that international community is just starting to learn that his eloquence doesn't always have much behind it.

Am I being too hard on the president? He's certainly done many good things. But it would be hard to name a single thing President Obama has done domestically that any other Democrat wouldn't have done if he or she were president following George W. Bush (e.g., signing the children's health insurance bill that Congress is about to gut to pay for worse care for kids under the health insurance exchange, if it ever happens), and there's a lot he hasn't done that every other Democrat who ran for president would have done.

Obama, like so many Democrats in Congress, has fallen prey to the conventional Democratic strategic wisdom: that the way to win the center is to tack to the center.

But it doesn't work that way.

You want to win the center? Emanate strength. Emanate conviction. Lead like you know where you're going (and hopefully know what you're talking about).

People in the center will follow if you speak to their values, address their ambivalence (because by definition, on a wide range of issues, they're torn between the right and left), and act on what you believe. FDR did it. LBJ did it. Reagan did it. Even George W. Bush did it, although I wish he hadn't.

But you have to believe something.

I don't honestly know what this president believes. But I believe if he doesn't figure it out soon, start enunciating it, and start fighting for it, he's not only going to give American families hungry for security a series of half-loaves where they could have had full ones, but he's going to set back the Democratic Party and the progressive movement by decades, because the average American is coming to believe that what they're seeing right now is "liberalism," and they don't like what they see. I don't, either.

What's they're seeing is weakness, waffling, and wandering through the wilderness without an ideological compass. That's a recipe for going nowhere fast -- but getting there by November.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Some years ago, I went on and on about the problems with American Industry.

One of my observations was that at one time the guy who ran a steel factory might have been a foul, nasty, hard nosed bastard --- but --- he knew all about STEEL. He knew what it was, how to make it, what made it better, etc. He was open to improvements, was open to innovation (as long as it actually made the product better), and wanted to run his business.

Today (I would say back in the 1980's and 90's) these same places are run byMBA's, "bean counters", people who read a balance sheet -- but knew nothing about the business they were supposed to manage. Now, there is an article in The New Republic (not exactly a bastion of "Liberal Thought") that says the same thing in a nicer way. It's titled Upper Mismanagement -- Why Can't Americans Make Things? Two Words: Business School.

Please follow the link and READ IT. I think it's very important to us all. We've forgotten the satisfaction of running a business, making good stuff, innovating, improving products -- and, making a good living (as opposed to being filthy rich).

It seems everyone wants to work in a nice, well lit, office. As opposed to being in a factory, with actual working folks, and (perhaps) getting your hands dirty every so often.

That is where the USA has shown "decay". It has nothing to do with "gay" marriage, abortion, or lack of "that old time religion" -- it's about wanting to be a lawyer, accountant, MBA, stockbroker, financial guy, instead of being production oriented, a manufacturing and process guy.

Historically, they ran the business -- and hired the lawyers and accountants.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

O.K., we just had a report about another guy screwing horses (mares - nothing queer about our guy). In the past some politico spoke of screwing mules (donkeys?) -- but he is today a "fine Christian gentleman".

There is currently, as I write this, a HUGE issue with the length of a FOUR year old boy's hair -- a little kid who is in kindergarten. It seems the city of Mesquite, Texas insists he cut his hair -- or stay home!

I have always been under the impression this issue was cleared up back in the 1960's -- I guess not.

Some folks still maintain MEN and BOYS are discriminated against far more than women are.

Others cry, (not literally --- GOD FORBID!!) about how "girly" men are today -- this, even though most men are far more "macho" than they were when I was a child.

Could the cause of much of this be that MEN are far less sure of themselves than they were years ago?

We have developed an industry that markets "manhood". It seems you have to do certain things, watch certain sports, drive certain cars (trucks?), act a certain way (unthinking boor ?), eat certain unhealthy foods, and partake in mass quantities of various alcoholic beverages to even be CONSIDERED for this new "manhood" thingy.

You do all this, becoming less and less sure of ever achieving this elusive "manhood" as you age. For many, the very behaviors that you MUST partake in, become less and less appealing (that is, if you mature in any way).

Following this regimen seems to leave little time for women (except as accessories), children, or anything that could be misunderstood as looking for mature male pursuits.

The "manhood" marketing plan often allows some room for some unthinking religiousity -- thus making said fellow a "fine christian gentleman".

Next, as middle age beckons, the result of so many years following what seems to be the current blueprint for "heterosexual manhood", seems to lead to significant health problems.

As a result Viagra, Cialis, Levitra, etc., seem to be a necessary part of the current male diet.

Obesity, high blood pressure, insane cholesterol levels, also seem to be a necessary part of this part of "21st Century Post Adolescent (but still dreaming) Heterosexual Manhood" (trademark applied for).

Like "Tiger" Woods, it's all a marketing scheme. It has little to do with what any INDIVIDUAL actually wants to do, or is really interested in.

It seems almost impossible for many guys to discover what THEY are interested in since their activities are guided by all the hotshot marketing "gurus" out there.

At the same time, I suspect many really do not fit the blueprint they are told EVERY "real man" MUST fit -- thus a measure of "gender panic".

And, a need to police the activities (and HAIR LENGTH) of four and five year old boys.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

This from Joe. My. God.

I guess it's just another part of "The Heterosexual Conspiracy"!

Another Heterosexual Pervert Busted For Having Sex With Horses

Emboldened by the widespread granting of "straight" rights, yet another deviant heterosexual has been arrested for bestiality - the next perverted stop on the slippery slope of "tolerance" for these degenerates who will have sex with anyone or any animal, as long as it's an act of opposite-sex "love."

An 18-year-old man was busted for having sex with horses at a Hudson Valley harness track, authorities said Friday. Erick Rivera was charged with five counts each of sexual misconduct with an animal and burglary after a six-month investigation at the Goshen Historic Track in Orange County. Rivera sneaked into the track at night from his nearby rented room and abused the animals, Goshen Village Police Chief James Watt said. Horsemen became suspicious beginning in July when they found the fillies bridled and immobilized in their stalls during morning checks.

We can expect that this revolting case will be defended by the infamous North American Man-Filly Love Association (NAMFLA), whose disgusting motto is "My Mount Is A Mare." America is doomed. Praise His Name!

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) approved the payout of the insured deposits of RockBridge Commercial Bank, Atlanta, Georgia. The bank was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the FDIC as receiver.

The FDIC was unable to find another financial institution to take over the banking operations of RockBridge Commercial Bank. As a result, checks to the retail depositors for their insured funds will be mailed on Monday. Brokered deposits will be wired once brokers provide the FDIC with the necessary documents to determine if any of their clients exceed the insurance limits. Customers who placed money with brokers should contact them directly for more information about the status of their funds.

As of September 30, 2009, RockBridge Commercial Bank had approximately $294.0 million in total assets and $291.7 million in total deposits. At the time of closing, the bank had an estimated $2.1 million in uninsured funds. This amount is an estimate that is likely to change once the FDIC obtains additional information from these customers.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-405-1604. Customers with accounts in excess of $250,000 also should contact the toll-free number to set up an appointment to discuss their deposits. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST; and on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m. EST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST.

Due to the Christmas Holiday, the toll-free number will not be operational between the hours of 3 p.m., Thursday, December 24, and 8:00 a.m., Monday, December 28. At that time the toll-free number will resume its normal hours. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/rockbridge.html.

RockBridge Commercial Bank is the 134th FDIC-insured institution to fail this year and the twenty-fifth in Georgia since The Buckhead Community Bank, Atlanta, was closed on December 4, 2009. The FDIC estimates the cost of the failure to its Deposit Insurance Fund to be approximately $124.2 million.

First Federal Bank of California, a Federal Savings Bank, Santa Monica, California, was closed today by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with OneWest Bank, FSB, Pasadena, California, to assume all of the deposits of First Federal Bank of California.

The 39 branches of First Federal Bank of California will reopen on Saturday as branches of OneWest Bank, FSB. Depositors of First Federal Bank of California will automatically become depositors of OneWest Bank, FSB. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until OneWest Bank, FSB can fully integrate the deposit records of First Federal Bank of California.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of First Federal Bank of California can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of September 30, 2009, First Federal Bank of California had approximately $6.1 billion in total assets and $4.5 billion in total deposits. OneWest Bank, FSB did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of First Federal Bank of California. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, OneWest Bank, FSB agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and OneWest Bank, FSB entered into a loss-share transaction on $5.3 billion of First Federal Bank of California's assets. OneWest Bank, FSB will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-930-1849. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time (PST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., PST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., PST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., PST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/firstfederal-ca.html.

Due to the Christmas Holiday, the toll-free number will not be operational between the hours of 3 p.m., Thursday, December 24, and 8:00 a.m., Monday, December 28. At that time the toll-free number will resume its normal hours.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $146.3 million. OneWest Bank, FSB's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. First Federal Bank of California is the 140th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the seventeenth in California. The last FDIC-insured institution to be closed in the state was Imperial Capital Bank, La Jolla, earlier today.

Imperial Capital Bank, La Jolla, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with City National Bank, Los Angeles, California, to assume all of the deposits of Imperial Capital Bank.

The nine branches of Imperial Capital Bank will reopen during normal business hours on Monday as branches of City National Bank. Depositors of Imperial Capital Bank will automatically become depositors of City National Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from City National Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other City National Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Imperial Capital Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of September 30, 2009, Imperial Capital Bank had approximately $4.0 billion in total assets and $2.8 billion in total deposits. City National Bank paid the FDIC a .24 percent premium for the right to assume all of the deposits of Imperial Capital Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, City National Bank agreed to purchase $3.3 billion of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition.

The FDIC and City National Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $2.5 billion of Imperial Capital Bank's assets. City National Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-613-0523. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time (PST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., PST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., PST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., PST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/imperialcapital.html .

Due to the Christmas Holiday, the toll-free number will not be operational between the hours of 3 p.m., Thursday, December 24, and 8:00 a.m., Monday, December 28. At that time the toll-free number will resume its normal hours.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $619.2 million. City National Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Imperial Capital Bank is the 139th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the sixteenth in California. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Pacific Coast National Bank, San Clemente, on November 13, 2009.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created a bridge bank to take over the operations of Independent Bankers' Bank, Springfield, Illinois, after the bank was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation—Division of Banking, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. The newly created bank is Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank, National Association.

Independent Bankers' Bank did not take deposits directly from the general public nor did it make loans to consumers. It was a commercial bank that provided correspondent banking services to its client banks.

Independent Bankers' Bank had approximately 450 client banks in four states, and operated one regional office. It provided a variety of services for its clients, including clearing accounts, investments, consulting, purchasing loans, and selling loan participations. Since the FDIC created a new bank to take over the operations of Independent Bankers' Bank, there is not expected to be any meaningful impact on the bank's clients.

The creation of the bridge bank allows the client banks to maintain their correspondent banking relationship with the least amount of disruption. The FDIC will operate Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank, to allow preexisting marketing efforts for the bank to continue.

As of September 30, 2009, Independent Bankers' Bank had approximately $585.5 million in assets and $511.5 million in deposits. At the time of closing, the bank had an estimated $269,000 in uninsured funds.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-451-1093. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Standard Time (CST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CST. Customers who would like more information about today's transaction can also visit the FDIC's Web site at: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/ibb.html.

Due to the Christmas Holiday, the toll-free number will not be operational between the hours of 3 p.m., Thursday, December 24, and 8:00 a.m., Monday, December 28. At that time the toll-free number will resume its normal hours.

The FDIC has contracted for operational management of Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $68.4 million. Independent Bankers' Bank is the 138th bank to fail in the nation this year and the twenty-first in Illinois. The last FDIC-insured institution to fail in the state was Benchmark Bank, Aurora, on December 4, 2009.

New South Federal Savings Bank, Irondale, Alabama, was closed today by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Beal Bank, Plano, Texas, to assume all of the deposits of New South Federal Savings Bank.

The sole branch of New South Federal Savings Bank will reopen on Monday as a branch of Beal Bank. Depositors of New South Federal Savings Bank will automatically become depositors of Beal Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Beal Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Beal Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of New South Federal Savings Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of September 30, 2009, New South Federal Savings Bank had approximately $1.5 billion in total assets and $1.2 billion in total deposits. Beal Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of New South Federal Savings Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Beal Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Beal Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on $1.2 billion of New South Federal Savings Bank's assets. Beal Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-423-6395. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Standard Time (CST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CST. Due to the Christmas Holiday, the toll-free number will not be operational between the hours of 3 p.m., Thursday, December 24, and 8:00 a.m., Monday, December 28. At that time the toll-free number will resume its normal hours.

Furthermore, the FDIC transferred to Beal Bank all qualified financial contracts to which New South Federal Savings Bank was a party.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $212.3 million. Beal Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. New South Federal Savings Bank is the 137th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the third in Alabama. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was CapitalSouth Bank, Birmingham, on August 21, 2009.

Press ReleasesFDIC Creates a Deposit Insurance National Bank to Facilitate the Resolution of Citizens State Bank, New Baltimore, MichiganThe Huntington National Bank to Provide Temporary Operational Management

Citizens State Bank, New Baltimore, Michigan, was closed today by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation, which then appointed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of New Baltimore (DINB), which will remain open for approximately 45 days to allow depositors access to their insured deposits and time to open accounts at other insured institutions.

At the time of closing, the receiver immediately transferred to the DINB all insured savings, checking, and secured public units of Citizens State Bank. Certificates of deposit (CDs) and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) were not transferred over to the DINB. The FDIC will mail checks directly to deposit customers who had CDs and IRAs with Citizens State Bank.

The Huntington National Bank, Columbus, Ohio, will provide operational management of the DINB under a contract with the FDIC. The main office and all branches of Citizens State Bank will open on Saturday, December 19, 2009. Banking activities, such as direct deposit and writing checks, ATM and debit cards, can continue normally for former customers of Citizens State Bank during the 45-day transition period. It is also important to note that Citizens State Bank official checks will continue to clear and will be issued to customers closing accounts.

All insured depositors of Citizens State Bank are encouraged to transfer their insured funds to other banks. They may do so by asking their new bank to electronically transfer their deposits from the DINB or by writing checks for the amount in their accounts.

Under the FDI Act, the FDIC may create a deposit insurance national bank to ensure that depositors have continued access to their insured funds where no other bank has agreed to assume the insured deposits. The DINB allows for uninterrupted direct deposits and automated payments from customers' accounts for customers with checking and NOW accounts and allows them time to find another institution with which to do business.

As of September 30, 2009, Citizens State Bank had $168.6 million in total assets and $157.1 million in total deposits. At the time of closing, deposits of approximately $803,000 potentially exceeded the insurance limits. Uninsured deposits were not transferred to the DINB. This estimate is likely to change once the FDIC obtains additional information from these customers.

Customers with accounts in excess of $250,000 should contact the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-350-2746 an appointment to discuss their deposits. This phone number will be operational this evening until 9 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST); on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., EST; on Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., EST; and thereafter from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., EST. Due to the Christmas Holiday, the toll-free number will not be operational between the hours of 3 p.m., Thursday, December 24, and 8:00 a.m., Monday, December 28. At that time the toll-free number will resume its normal hours.

Beginning Monday, December 21, 2009, depositors of Citizens State Bank with more than $250,000 at the bank may visit the FDIC's Web page "Is My Account Fully Insured?" at http://www2.fdic.gov/dip/Index.asp to determine their insurance coverage.

The FDIC as receiver will retain all the assets from Citizens State Bank for later disposition. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

The cost to the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund is estimated to be $76.6 million. Citizens State Bank is the 136th bank to fail this year and the fourth in Michigan. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Home Federal Savings Bank, Detroit, on November 6, 2009.

Peoples First Community Bank, Panama City, Florida, was closed today by the Office of Thrift Supervision, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Hancock Bank, Gulfport, Mississippi, to assume all of the deposits of Peoples First Community Bank.

The 29 branches of Peoples First Community Bank will reopen during normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of Hancock Bank. Depositors of Peoples First Community Bank will automatically become depositors of Hancock Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Hancock Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Hancock Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Peoples First Community Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of September 30, 2009, Peoples First Community Bank had approximately $1.8 billion in total assets and $1.7 billion in total deposits. The Hancock Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of one percent to assume all of the deposits of Peoples First Community Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Hancock Bank agreed to purchase approximately $1.6 billion of the failed bank's assets. The FDIC retained the remaining assets for later disposition.

The FDIC and Hancock Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on approximately $1.4 billion of Peoples First Community Bank's assets. Hancock Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-523-8177. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., EST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., EST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., EST. Due to the Christmas Holiday, the toll-free number will not be operational between the hours of 3 p.m., Thursday, December 24, and 8:00 a.m., Monday, December 28. At that time the toll-free number will resume its normal hours.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $556.7 million. Hancock Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. Peoples First Community Bank is the 135th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the fourteenth in Florida. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Republic Federal Bank, N.A., Miami, on December 11, 2009.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

I subscribe /follow various blogs -- some are listed on My Blog List. Just because they are there does not mean I agree with what is said. I read them (or skim them) to get a feel for what's going on -- just like most folks, I guess.

There are others. One is "Social Rupture -- http://socialrupture.blogspot.com/ -- which keeps track of social protests, and crimes against property (mostly).

Just the way they look at these acts, the way they see them as protests against the current society, is an interesting counter balance to the words of our political leaders. At times it almost seems as if a whole lot of folks are fiddlin' away at a furious pace while the fabric of our society is ripped apart.

If you listen to the tone, the discontent, coming from both left and right -- the angry "lefties", and the angry "Tea Party" folks -- it seems as if they are all angry about similar things -- they just direct that anger against different objects/people.

All along, there is this rage from below (or folks who see themselves as "below").

Even the recent murders of policemen, as horrible as they are, seem to target our newly "militarized" policemen as agents of repression -- even if the ideas are cloudy, and almost unformed (no, it would not be "better" if they were "formed").

There's an anger about the inequality, the lack of mobility, lack of opportunity. Different folks have different culprits -- it's the "corporations", the "government", those "gays", the "immigrants", it's a case of "different strokes for different folks".

At the same time -- it seems to be the same anger. All but those on top feel betrayed. With the economic downturn even many who smugly saw themselves as "winners" (remember, in the eyes of many, society is composed of "winners" and "losers" -- all discrete "individuals", subject to nothing but their "will") are now forced to admit they are little better than "losers" (esp. if they have been out of work for a year or more).

The "philosophy" of extreme "rugged individualism" only works when things are going well. When the middle class is dissolving, when folks have trouble keeping a roof over their heads -- no matter what they do -- the ideas of a social network, the "fabric of society", a "safety net" for all begins to look a little better.

I do understand that people still think THEY are "worthy", YOU* are just lazy, or a "welfare cheat" -- but even those ideas tend to soften when folks do not see things getting better.

Our greedy corporate leaders had better straighten out the current mess (if they are willing) or some of the folks on left and right might just get together -- esp. if they stop long enough to pick one culprit.

The wealthy have been waging class warfare against those of us less "worthy" forever. We have been weaned on the idea that we might just be able to join those on top, and wage class warfare ourselves, also forever.

During bad times we tend to be a bit more cynical -- esp. when we see the newly affluent have much of their affluence (it's not "wealth") stripped away. When their personal safety net dissolves, is shown to be nothing but smoke and mirrors, most folks just buckle down and work harder. In the past, that was usually enough to keep things going.

I remember the 80's and all the Yuppies who worked 60, 70 and more hours a week so they could "retire by 40, 45, and do what I REALLY want to do". During those supposed "golden years of Reagan" we had recessions, a huge stock market crash, and a huge real estate "readjustment".

After the dust cleared, those "I'm going to retire by 45" Yuppies were damn near wiped out -- many are still working.

Back then I would say that becoming a "shrink" was part of a growth industry, especially after folks realized they had been screwed (again). I was only partially right -- we "solved" those problems with tranquilizers. Perhaps thats one reason we use more of them than the rest of the world - combined.

It also might explain the popularity of all the "prosperity gospels". I am afraid that even all the "positive thinking" crap will not be enough to keep down the rage if our "leaders" do not wise up.

In our past, we have always found a leader who was smart enough to understand that the truly wealthy had to give up a little (actually a VERY little) to keep what they had, to stay in charge. That seems to be what FDR did.

Today we are "The Richest Nation In The World" (trademarked), but our healthcare sucks, we have a minimal "safety net", we no longer bother to educate our children, literacy rates are falling, child mortality rates are not up to par, our infrastructure is falling apart, and our water is getting worse.

All the while inequality is growing. People who have always seen themselves as middle class no longer are.

We really NEED change. We NEED "Change You Can Believe In" -- we are NOT getting it. Nor are we getting any sort of positive leadership.

When it comes to current policy, the Obama administration seems to be adrift -- with political expediency trumping any and all ideals. It's as if they do not even pay lip service to those ideals -- except in an occasional speech. Even then, there are no calls for unity, no calls for service, perhaps even some restraint from both left and right -- it's as if this administration is just too "cool" to bother.

Bush and Co. were too arrogant. Obama Inc. is just too cool. For many of us, the result is the same.

SolutionsBank, Overland Park, Kansas, was closed today by the Office of the State Bank Commissioner of Kansas, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Arvest Bank, Fayetteville, Arkansas, to assume all of the deposits of SolutionsBank.

The six branches of SolutionsBank will reopen during normal business hours on Saturday as branches of Arvest Bank. Depositors of SolutionsBank will automatically become depositors of Arvest Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Arvest Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Arvest Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of SolutionsBank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of September 30, 2009, SolutionsBank had total assets of $511.1 million and total deposits of approximately $421.3 million. Arvest Bank did not pay the FDIC a premium for the deposits of SolutionsBank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Arvest Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC and Arvest Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on approximately $411.3 million of SolutionsBank's assets. Arvest Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-share transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-405-1439. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Central Standard Time (CST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., CST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., CST. Interested parties also can visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/solutions.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $122.1 million. Arvest Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's DIF compared to all alternatives. SolutionsBank is the 133rd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the third in Kansas. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was First National Bank of Anthony, Anthony, on June 19, 2009.

Last bank in Kansas to fail before today was the First National Bank of Anthony -- good thing it wasn't in my old stomping grounds of Long Island -- then it would have been "The First National Bank of Guido" (rimshot!) -- but it wouldn't have failed. Got that?

Valley Capital Bank, National Association, Mesa, Arizona, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Enterprise Bank & Trust, Clayton, Missouri, to assume all of the deposits of Valley Capital Bank.

Valley Capital Bank's sole branch will reopen on Monday as a branch of Enterprise Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branches until they receive notice from Enterprise Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Enterprise Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Valley Capital Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of September 30, 2009, Valley Capital Bank had total assets of approximately $40.3 million and total deposits of approximately $41.3 million. Enterprise Bank paid the FDIC a 2 percent premium for the right to assume all of the deposits of Valley Capital Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Enterprise Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the failed bank's assets.

The FDIC and Enterprise Bank entered into a loss-share transaction on approximately $29.8 million of Valley Capital Bank's assets. Enterprise Bank will share in the losses on the asset pools covered under the loss-share agreement. The loss-sharing transaction is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector. The transaction also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers. For more information on loss share, please visit: http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/lossshare/index.html.

Customers who have questions about today's transaction can call the FDIC toll-free at 1-800-405-8357. The phone number will be operational this evening until 9:00 p.m., Mountain Standard Time (MST); on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., MST; on Sunday from noon to 6:00 p.m., MST; and thereafter from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., MST. Interested parties can also visit the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/valleycapital.html.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $7.4 million. Enterprise Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the DIF compared to all alternatives. Valley Capital Bank is the 132nd FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the forth in Arizona. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Bank USA, National Association, Phoenix, on October 30, 2009.

About Me

I'm just another old woman who has had wide ranging interests for a long time,
These include fishing, shooting, reading, cooking, and all manner of (mostly) left wing politics.
Born and bred in New York - Queens, to be precise - I now live in Texas, another state that folks seem to attack (like N.Y.) without ever having been here.
I'm also a fan of most sports -- esp. baseball, esp. the New York Yankees.
Originally a New York Giants (baseball) fan, I was crushed when they moved. It took many years wandering in the wilderness before I returned to baseball. I's all Wade Boggs fault. When I watched that artist, my love for baseball resurfaced. Since he was then a Yankee -- it had to be the Yankees.
The Mets pretended they had spiritual ties to the old Brooklyn Dodgers - no Giant fan could go there.
I tried - couldn't do it.